This I blame entirely on Ets who suggested an outing to Roppongi Hills to sample some of the exquisite super premium ice-cream from famed New York Creamery, Cold Stone. Upon arrival, we came upon a queue that wend its' way around the back of the building. After 45 minutes, we found ourselves at the counter making our orders for the above-mentioned creations.

The 'Founder's Favourite' is a truly scrumptious concoction of sweet cream ice cream, pecans, brownie, caramel and fudge. The brownie and pecans added a lovely crumbly texture whilst the combination of the ice cream, caramel and fudge made for a satisfyingly gooey treat.

Just as divine was Ets' order of the 'Nights in White Chocolate' which consisted of the decidedly exotic white chocolate ice cream blended with double white chocolate chips, caramel and a whipped topping.

Both our orders came in a fresh-from-the-oven waffle bowl that was crisp, delicate and complemented the custom-made ice cream perfectly. It was quite a show watching our orders being fabricated right in front of us. The staff would scoop out a generous helping of the ice cream then put it on a long refrigerated metal slab and mix in the additional ingredients. By my reckoning, we consumed the caloric intake of a third-world nation that very afternoon.



On Sunday, we headed into Ikebukuro to visit Namjatown, a bizarre food-themed Disney wannabe theme park. There are four distint areas; Gyoza Stadium, Ice Cream City, Tokyo Chou Cream, and Relaxation Forest with the latter being the only non food-themed area instead focusing on massage and whatnot presumably for helping all that food settle at the end.

First stop, Gyoza Stadium. Filled with countless stalls selling innumerable varieties of gyoza, we were limited in our choices by our stomachs (and the prospect of chou pastry and ice cream) and settled for some gyoza that came on a crispy shell (which wasn't bad) and some fried gyoza with a lovely pepper-mayonnaise sauce that came in a set with two long 'shrimp gyoza'. Feeling the strain, we went to the nearby amusement area where we played a 'throw-balls-into-the-mouth-of-a-dragon' game. Being the tall bloke that I am, my hands came to about two feet away from the dragon which made for quite an easy game and even won a little light up ball prize for Ets' thereby completing one of my boyfriendly duties at a theme park (^_^)v

After that, we went to Tokyo Chou Cream and took a look at all that can be done to chou pastry. Ets had her pick this time and decided on a very large cookie-encrusted chou pastry with a delectable sweet cream filling.

Next stop was Ice Cream City where we saw some Turkish guys selling Turkish ice cream. I think people were lining up more for the show than anything else ^^;
One big fat guy would scoop up some ice cream with a long metal implement, then put a cone on it and make like he was handing it to the customer. Just as the customer reached for it, he'd pull it back and spin it around.
There was one shop selling black ice cream made from black sesame. We decided to have a fozen yoghurt thing with your own choice of three ingredients mixed in (mango, peach and nata de coco) which produced a very refreshing yet creamy creation.

There you have it. One weekend of eating.
Lather, rinse and repeat as necessary.

Two weeks of silence. Too long, I fear, for some of you.
I reckon this is what it takes for either (a) a note in the blog or (b) a MSN message saying "hey, when are you going to blog?"

My sis was right. I WAS too busy pak-tohing with Ets ^_^

Well, bah! Here's the last two weeks in a nutshell.

Went for another of Sean's barbecues and brought some of my now-famous Char Siew which I can't really take credit for. No, truth be told, kudos and much props goes to a certain Mr Lee (known as Kum Kee to his friends) for doing most of the work and the provision of this orgasmic preparation.

Ets and I went to the newly-opened Ikea to buy Tomoko's birthday present and also to make with the general wanderings. Not the typical date spot but it turned out to be quite enjoyable. The cafe upstairs is a nice place to have dinner. The subsidized meatballs were very tasty and so was the marinated salmon. They also gave out free Daim candy bars at the cash register and we bagged a few handfuls. Ets already had in mind some scented tea candles that she last saw back in England well over a year ago and she was on a mission to acquire some and acquire some she did. There were three different kinds, each in separate 'economy-size' bags. We left with what must be a hundred tea candles in addition to Tomoko's presents. Speaking of which, we got her a nice candle set that came with a large black display plate with some black and clear glass beads and two candles. Very nice and also quite cheap. On the way out, we spotted large tins of ginger thins and the decision to add it to the prezzie list was made because the tin was quite nice.

Tomoko's party was just a couple of days ago at Raver's. Her birthday ("The Big Three-O") is actually a couple of weeks later but they wanted to have it on Saturday so it would coincide with the monthly Dusk Til Dawn party which resulted in what Tomo described as her 'Dream Birthday'. The bar opened early for our little group and we had lots of meat on sticks, some shrimp salad and some taco rice. After 2200, the other party started and so did the England/Paraguay match. I was manning the door at sporadic times during the evening and was handling money, stamping hands, and noting down how many ppl came in. Ooh, and I get in free either cos of that or cos I'm a regular. I like to think that I get in free cos I know all the DJs there :p Ets got in free too cos well ... you know. See? It pays to know me (^_^)v